AustLit

'Romance fiction has one of the most recognisable brands in book culture. It is known for a handful of attributes: its happy-ever-after endings, the pocket Mills & Boon and Harlequin editions, the covers featuring Fabio (in the 1990s) or naked male torsos (the hot trend in the 21st century). It is known for being overwhelmingly written and read by women, and for being mass-produced.' (Introduction)

'Books are fundamental to our society: they shape our culture, education and ideas. To do this well, books should reflect the amazing and varied world we occupy.'(Introduction)

'Works of genre fiction are a source of enjoyment, read during cherished leisure time and in incidental moments of relaxation. This original book takes readers inside popular genres of fiction, including crime, fantasy, and romance, to reveal how personal tastes, social connections, and industry knowledge shape genre worlds. Attuned to both the pleasure and the profession of producing genre fiction, the authors investigate contemporary developments in the field—the rise of Amazon, self-publishing platforms, transmedia storytelling, and growing global publishing conglomerates—and show how these interact with older practices, from fan conventions to writers’ groups.

'Sitting at the intersection of literary studies, genre studies, fan studies, and studies of the book and publishing cultures, Genre Worlds considers how contemporary genre fiction is produced and circulated on a global scale. Its authors propose an innovative theoretical framework that unfolds genre fiction’s most compelling characteristics: its connected social, industrial, and textual practices. As they demonstrate, genre fiction books are not merely texts; they are also nodes of social and industrial activity involving the production, dissemination, and reception of the texts.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Online platforms have shifted the power dynamics between readers, authors and traditional gatekeepers—with readers able to share their emotional, moral and political reactions in real time. Do Goodreads reviewers now exercise too much power over publishers, or the right amount?' (Introduction)

'The cultural and commercial operations of the publishing industry have been dramatically reshaped by digital technologies, yet little is known about how these effects are differentiated across sectors of the industry. This article analyses data about the production of Australian-authored fantasy, romance and crime fiction titles to explore the specific publishing ecosystems of different genres and the roles played by multinational, small press and self-publishing in each. First, we show that there has been across-the-board growth in each genre and for each type of publisher. Second, we argue that multinational publishing activity in these genres has been characterized by broad stability, punctuated by experimentation with genre-specific imprints for romance and fantasy titles. Third, we find that small presses make diverse contributions to genre ecosystems, able to both activate prestige and experiment with formats. Finally, we note the immense growth in self-publishing, particularly in romance, and argue that self-publishing now operates in tandem with traditional publishing to create hybridized publishing ecosystems - with greater potential to transform the traditional publishing model than e-books.' (Publication abstract)

'This brief introductory essay serves two purposes. The first is to introduce the study of contemporary Australian popular fiction with reference to our wider research on ‘genre worlds’. Using a literary sociological approach that draws on Howard S. Becker’s Art Worlds, our research recognises the multiple dimensionality of popular genres: as bodies of texts, collections of social formations that gather around and produce those texts, and sets of industrial practices with various national and transnational orientations. [...] The second purpose of this essay is to introduce a themed cluster of four essays by Australian researchers, each of whom looks to both Australia and the world for examples of the cultural and commercial functions that contemporary popular fiction can perform.'

Source: paragraph two.

Special edition of Australian Literary Studies, drawing from the research project Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction in the Twenty-First Century.